Thursday, 19 April 2012

Since it’s Q-day in the A to Z
Challenge I thought I’d open the floor
to any questions you might have about the writing process. I can’t promise you
a good answer, or the right answer, but hopefully I can offer you a new way of looking at the problem.

Often we can get stuck in a way
of doing things that becomes obvious and predictable, amd very repetitive. But you don’t have to
stay in POV and describe what your character looks like in a mirror, nor do you
have to express emotion through endlessly raising eyebrows or spreading hands
with palms up.

You just need to look at it from another angle.

So, if you have any questions,
either regarding writing in general, or specific to something you’re working
on, please leave it in the comments section below and I’ll copy and paste it into the
main body of the post, along with a link to your blog or website (a little free publicity never hurts).

And if there are no questions,
then I’ll happily put my feet up and have a day off.

while Pamela from The Death Writer asks: I'm all for a day off too, but here
I am. I'm a nonfiction writer working on my book about death. In my writer's
group there is much debate about whether I should write in present or past
tense. I like present, as it creates more tension and creates the illusion of
the reader being right there with me, but alas there is less reflection. What
say you?

Assuming they are both asking
pretty much the same thing (which I’m assuming because it means half the work
for me) I would say that the effect of past or present tense on a piece of writing
is negligible. Past tense is just as immediate and in the moment. Present tense
allows for as much reflection as you want.

Neither innately makes for a more
tense or more immediate story. Both can be written to emphasise those aspects,
but there’s nothing inherent in either approach that puts it in there
automatically.

There’s often a feeling that one
approach will create a certain vibe, but it just isn’t true. You can make them
both achieve the same thing if you have the skills, it’s just a matter of
technique.

Because past tense is more
common, and the one most people are familiar with reading, most people find it
easier to use, and are better with it. Often when using present tense the lack
of experience with it means you end up with a slightly dreamy, detached tone.

With present tense it can feel
less convincing to be telling someone something as it happens. Where are you? How
are you telling me this? But the trick
is to think of it like me sitting in a bar and telling you about my day: I’m
sitting at my desk and the boss comes over, and he says.... I’m telling you
about the past in the present here. Readers (and barflies) understand that.

With past tense, as long as you
make it about the action characters are going through the reader will focus on
what’s happening, not when it’s happening: My boss slammed his fist on the desk
and then grabbed me by the throat.

In the end it’s a matter of
preference and what you’re comfortable with, bearing in mind that unless you’ve
spent a lot of time reading present tense stuff you’re probably going to find
past tense easier to deal with.

Mate, I don’t have anything for tomorrow.
Luckily I’m a master at making it up as I go along.

Michael Offutt, well known Tebow Cult Initiate, hailing from SLCKismet, said:What do you think of buying advertising to help market a book? Is it effective?

Well, speaking from a position of complete ignorance (no change there, then), I'd say you'd have to know your market and exactly where to put your dollars. If you can target the sort of people who would buy your book then I think it can be very cost effective. A lot of marketing is just about getting the name out there. Popular scifi blogs and magazines could certainly attract readers. No guarantees in this business, though.

My advice would be to think of a movie that is roughly your genre and that you admire, and get hold of the screenplay (just google it and one of the many sites offfering free downloads will pop up). They key to good dialogue is to be able to express emotion within speech without having to state it in the narrative. This can be through word choice and syntax, but mostly through context (how dialogue builds between two people). The best place to see this done well is in a screenplay, which is 90% dialogue.

I vote for a day off too! I don't know how you do it, I see you comment on so many blogs and get your in-depth posts up every day - do you get any writing done, or am I not alone in losing productivity in April?

And I think Alex's question was: If Past and Present were to attack, who would win?

@Charmaine-I finished my latest rewrite last week, so a bit more laid back. Have to start sending it out now. Actually already got a request for a full from HarperCollins through their online slush pile Authonomy, although they've never actually published anything from the site so not much chance there.

I'm all for a day off too, but here I am. I'm a nonfiction writer working on my book about death. In my writer's group there is much debate about whether I should write in present or past tense. I like present, as it creates more tension and creates the illusion of the reader being right there with me, but alas there is less reflection.What say you?